Edom

Edom

(ē`dŏm),

Idumaea,

or

Idumea

(both: īdyo͞omē`ə), mountainous country, called also Mt. Seir. According to the Book of Genesis, it was given to EsauEsau[Heb.,=hairy], in the Bible, son of Isaac, who sold his birthright to his younger twin, Jacob, for lentil stew and who was tricked by Jacob out of his father's blessing. Also known as Edom [Heb.,=ruddy], the disinherited Esau settled on Mt......Click the link for more information., also called Edom, and his descendants. It extended along the eastern border of the Arabah valley, from the Dead Sea to Elat. Edomite history was marked by continuous hostility and warfare with Jews, Assyrians, and Syrians. At the end of the 2d cent. B.C., they were subdued by Hasmonaean priest-king John Hyrcanus I, forcibly circumcised, and merged with the Jews. HerodHerod,dynasty reigning in Palestine at the time of Jesus. As a dynasty the Herods depended largely on the power of Rome. They are usually blamed for the state of virtual anarchy in Palestine at the beginning of the Christian era.

Antipater (fl. c.65 B.C......Click the link for more information. the Great was Idumaean. The Romans grouped Idumaea with Judaea and Samaria in one procuratorship. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Idumaea was included in Arabia Petraea.

Edom

(Greek, Idumaea), an ancient country in Southwest Asia, south of Palestine, between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba; named for the Edomites.

In the second half of the second millennium B.C., the land was settled by the Edomites, who united to form a state in the late second millennium B.C. In the 11th century B.C., Edom was subjugated by the tribes of Israel. It paid a tribute to Assyria from the ninth to seventh centuries and to the neo-Babylonian kingdom in the seventh and sixth centuries. Together with the Babylonians, the Edomites laid seige to Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and destroyed the city. By the late sixth century they governed part of southern Palestine.

When the Nabataean kingdom was formed in the late third century B.C., much of Edom was incorporated into it. With part of southern Palestine (capital, Hebron), western Edom became the independent kingdom of Idumaea. In the late second century B.C., Idumaea was conquered by a Judean king of the Hasmonean dynasty, and the population was converted to Judaism.

Together with Judea, Idumaea was subjugated by Rome in 63 B.C. and became a Roman protectorate. King Herod I was an Idumaean. In 106 A.D., a large part of Idumaea was incorporated into the Roman province of Arabia.

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